Widely distributed, “open” network computer resources are the norm in contemporary enterprise network environments. International Business Machines Corp., Comprehensive workload management for your enterprise computing environment with IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler (Jun. 2002). These resources typically include a wide variety of software, desktop computers, network hardware, and servers, each with specific requirements and functions. Id.
Generally, a system administrator is responsible for managing the workload on computing resources in such an enterprise computing system. Among other things, the system administrator must create a schedule for executing multiple programs, and then implement the schedule by dispatching the work in accordance with the schedule. In generic terms, a group of programs that should be executed in a prescribed sequence is known as a “batch job,” or just a “job.”
Systems administrators are in a unique position to understand the extraordinary batch workload demands created when key business processes are automated. Id. With the addition of each new automated process, the batch workload can grow at an incredible rate. Often, there is a potential for daily batch processing workloads to triple or even quadruple in several years. At the same time, the window for processing jobs is shrinking, with many critical jobs needing to be completed before each day's regular online work begins. Id.
The workload management challenge can be complicated further by interdependencies between jobs and the availability of personnel who understand how to manage batch jobs in the context of important business priorities. Consider, for example, the requirements that can be triggered when a customer places an order over the Internet. Depending on the environment, the customer's request could initiate a job on a UNIX server to acknowledge the order, a second job on an IBM AS/400 ISERIES server to order parts, a third job on an OS/390 ZSERIES server to debit the customer's bank account or payment system, and yet another job on a MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT server to print a docket and address labels. If any job fails, the company's revenues and customer satisfaction might be at risk. See id.
Because batch workloads provide the raw material for many of today's automated business processes, it is more important than ever for systems administrators to have an efficient, reliable and scalable way to manage their batch workloads seamlessly in a distributed environment. Id. Historically, though, a system administrator manually creates a schedule for executing jobs (the “job stream”), and designates fixed resources for each job. Fortunately, job scheduling programs, such as IBM's Tivoli Workload Scheduler, monitor and control the workload in an enterprise computing system, thereby facilitating the system administrator's workload management tasks to some extent. See, generally, International Business Machines Corp., IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler (Jul. 23, 2004). Tivoli Workload Scheduler is an example of a jobstream “dispatcher” specifically designed to help a system administrator manage workloads in a complex, distributed environment. IBM I, supra. A jobstream dispatcher provides consistent and reliable operations by giving a system administrator the ability to use a single console to execute a previously planned job schedule using many varied resources across an enterprise. See id. Conventional jobstream planning involves preparing jobs for automatic execution, resolving interdependencies, and then assigning resources for executing the jobs. See id. If a particular job fails, conventional job scheduling programs often can handle the recovery process with little or no operator intervention. Id.
Currently, though, neither a system administrator nor any conventional jobstream planner can account for the possibility that one job stream may interfere with another. In particular, conventional jobstream planners do not account for a jobstream's network use, which may cause delays and inefficient resource utilization. Moreover, conventional jobstream planners do not provide any means for adding ad-hoc jobs to a jobstream without causing additional interference. A novel jobstream planning process and corresponding apparatus that address these needs is described in detail below.